Quarantined Comics

This week we masked up and hit some empty-off-hour theaters, so we could talk about Shang Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Based on the 1972 comics of the same name based on a VERY different context / pretense, Marvel's Shang Chi is a completely new story, carrying over only a some surface level elements of the source material. The...

This week we are reading "I Am Not Starfire" written by Mariko Tamaki and artist Yoshi Yoshitani. Many would argue would Tamaki (someone we've read numerous books by) is one of our generation's best voices on growing up in this increasingly strange world....so for DC to tap her to relate to one of their most popular characters, is an intriguing concept. I AM NOT STARFIRE tells th...

This week we are reading "Year of the Rabbit" - written and illustrated by Tian Veasna. The book is an autobiographical depiction of the author's family journey in Cambodia, from the moment he Khmer Rouge took power...three days before his birth. Taking place in the late 1970s, the book is a harrowing, triggering account of one family's journey to make sense of, attempt escape, a...

In Grass, Gendry-Kim tells the real-life account of a Lee Ok-sun, who was forced into sexual slavery as a young girl during World War II. And in The Waiting, she tells the story of a family suddenly torn apart when Korea was divided between North and South — a fictionalization based in Gendry-Kim's own research and family history. Each is an emotional gut punch. The legacies of both the comfor...

Y: THE LAST MAN is an award-winning, post-apocalyptic sci-fi comic series by Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Lost, Paper Girls) and Pia Guerra published from 2002 through 2008 by DC's Vertigo imprint, and soon to be adapted to a live-action TV series on FX / Hulu - https://youtu.be/0EEQ5Lj-cXM Written in the heart of the post-9/11 era, Y centers on the realities of a seemingly far-fetched scenario - w...

This week, we're reading THE SUMMIT OF THE GODS (神々の山嶺, Kamigami no Itadaki) - an early 2000s manga by Jiro Taniguchi, based on a novel and script by Baku Yumemakura. The series traces several climbers' journeys across decades around the world - from the European Alps, to the peaks of Japan, to the Himalayas of Nepal and Tibet - all bookended by the greatest summit - Everest. The stor...

This week we're reading MARVELS, the 1994 mini series by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross. MARVELS retells he origins of the Marvel Universe from a decidedly... pedestrian point of view. Over 4 volumes, we traverse New York City through the decades, from the eve of World War 2 and the first appearance of larger than life heroes, to the 60s and 70s when superheroes were a part of mainstream pop cultur...

As you might know, Raman also hosts the podcast MODERN MINORITIES, where each week Raman + QC-pal Sharon hope to generate greater empathy and understanding through the stories of others minority experiences. One of our all time favorite comics is GOOD TALK, by Mira Jacob - a moving, autobiographical take on Mira’s conversations with her son, husband, family, and friends about race in Obama and Tru...

During Quarantined Comics “summer hiatus” (Ryan in a Korean gulag, Raman changing more diapers), we wanted to make sure you still got your sweet, sweet weekly comics content, so we’re proud to share Raman’s OTHER comic book podcast project “CHARACTER STUDY” -with friend-of-the-pod Paresh Jha. Character Study is a 4-part series that examines the history of DICK GRAYSON (aka Robin, aka Nightwing), t...

During Quarantined Comics “summer hiatus” (Ryan in a Korean gulag, Raman changing more diapers), we wanted to make sure you still got your sweet, sweet weekly comics content, so we’re proud to share Raman’s OTHER comic book podcast project “CHARACTER STUDY” -with friend-of-the-pod Paresh Jha. Character Study is a 4-part series that examines the history of DICK GRAYSON (aka Robin, aka Nightwing), t...

During Quarantined Comics “summer hiatus” (Ryan in a Korean gulag, Raman changing more diapers), we wanted to make sure you still got your sweet, sweet weekly comics content, so we’re proud to share Raman’s OTHER comic book podcast project “CHARACTER STUDY” -with friend-of-the-pod Paresh Jha. Character Study is a 4-part series that examines the history of DICK GRAYSON (aka Robin, aka Nightwing), t...

_During Quarantined Comics “summer hiatus” (Ryan in a Korean gulag, Raman changing more diapers), we wanted to make sure you still got your sweet, sweet weekly comics content, so we’re proud to share Raman’s OTHER comic book podcast project “CHARACTER STUDY” -with friend-of-the-pod Paresh Jha. Character Study is a 4-part series that examines the history of DICK GRAYSON (aka Robin, aka Nightwing),...

Josh Simmons' comics are always deeply disturbing. Sometimes, they read like dirty jokes, taken to the furthest extremes. Other times, they touch on unsettling emotional truths - while still embracing extremes. But what makes Simmons so interesting to read is even when his stories seem to clearly telegraph where they're going — the killer has snuck into the house, the woods are full of dem...

Famed comics artist Barry Windsor-Smith — known for his work on Weapon X and Conan — spent 35 years bringing his magnum opus to life. In many ways, Monsters recalls his superhero work. A young man, viciously abused as a child, tries to enlist in the army only to be subjected to body horror experiments in an effort to transform him into a super human soldier. That's where the parallels end, how...

Let's ride with the family down the street, and meet the Flintstones - 2016's not-so-thinly-veiled commentary on our modern capitalist society. Written by the always subversive Mark Russel, and illustrated by Steve Pugh, many said this was the best comic of 2016. All the familiar beats are there, Fred, Wilma, Barney, Wilma - even Pebbles, Bam-Bam, and the invisible hand that his Gerald. Le...

This week, we're reading MS. MARVEL - written by award winning novelist, and Muslim American G. Willow Wilson. Some would argue that MS. MARVEL was one of the most important books - and new characters Marvel comics has released in a decade. While her name might be familiar, everything else is "all new, all different" - because we're introduced to Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American...

Perramus: The City And Oblivion is genuinely one of the most unusual and wildest graphic novel experiences you'll find today. Created during a period of great political turmoil, Perramus is at once terrifying and laugh-out-loud funny, following a group of oddball freedom fighters as they work their way through a country overrun by a fascist regime.

This week we're reading SWORD DAUGHTER, created by Brian Wood and Mack Chater. It's a short-and-sweet epic of one father and daughters' quest to seek revenge against the ruthless vikings that destroyed their lives. SWORD DAUGHTER is set one THOUSAND years ago, - where the murderous Forty Swords clan, has burned a village to the ground, leaving just two people alive: DAG - a shattered f...

We continue our journey to post WW2 Japan, with the more obscure, but equally important manga master - Yoshiro Tatsumi (credited as being the creator of the darker, more realistic "Gekiga" movement in manga). We read THREE short story collections that reflect Tatsumi's delightfully (?) tortured ethos of the time: "The Push Man" (1969), "Abandon The Old In Tokyo" (...

Before WWII, the Tenge family ruled over their massive land holdings. But with the American occupation, their land is divvied up and the family, already in a state of deep moral decay, resorts to even more desperate measures to hold on to what they have. Osamu Tezuka's epic casts a critical eye on how Japan was forever transformed by its post-war fate -- all through the eyes of a family on the...

Ever thought about going to a farm upstate? How about an interdimensional pocket reality that you can never escape from? This week we're reading Black Hammer, the Eisner award winning series by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston. This is an really fresh take on a lot of familiar tropes...which also brings our journey into subversive superhero stories to a close. It's got all your favorite superh...

In 2002, superstar writer Grant Morrison dissected the familial relationships underpinning Marvel Comics' first family, with the four-issue Fantastic Four 1234. The result was a dark, distorted version - aided by artist Jae Lee - of the Fantastic Four, with the family fracturing as their arch nemesis Dr. Doom readies his final assault. Ryan dug it, Raman hated it. And in this episode, we agree...

This week we're talking about Planetary, written by the now-controversial Warren Ellis and drawn by the always-astonishing John Casaddy (who, in hindsight really has bad taste in comic book partners). Planetary broke onto the comics scene in 1998, and was unlike anything anyone had seen before...running sporadically for just 27 issues from 1998 to 2009 (do the math...that is a long time to wai...

What do you do if you're saddled with a stale, tertiary superhero? You hire writer Warren Ellis to inject some fire. Or at least you did. Ellis's superstar has lost a lot of shine following multiple allegations of his behavior around women. This week, we'll take a look at how Warren Ellis reinvigorates stale forgotten superheroes - but we'll have to do so within the context of Elli...

It's hard not to have an opinion on Zack Snyder, and his movies are always heavily produced and luxuriate in the epic-ness of their subject matter - whether it's Superman hurting into space or a janitor setting down a mop. And that tendency both hinders and helps his version of Justice League - which after years of anticipation, has been released. The mystique of The Superhero Film That Ne...